“They are,” Tarkken said. “But one, I have spent the last three years living practically expense free while working a high paid job. Two, she’s a bit of a fixer upper. That’s why she’s out - some of the Station engineers kindly agreed to take a look at her for me. There’s a bit more work to do, but by the time we’ve got to the first waystation, she should be ready to go.”
“You bought us a spaceship?” Marta said, still not quite able to believe it.
“Well, I seem to recall a conversation where you said there wouldn’t be any ’space adventures’ for you, as if that made you sad. And we both have strong feelings about public transport. So, yes, I bought us a spaceship of our own.”
“Can we go inside it?”
He frowned at her. “It’s yours, you can do whatever you want with it. Except fly it because you don’t have a licence.”
“Please tell me you do.”
“I’m not an idiot, I wouldn’t have bought a really expensive toy neither of us could fly.”
There was something a little bit too defensive about the way he said it.
“And when did you get this licence?”
He at least looked a bit sheepish. “Last week. Being Head of Security became an increasingly easy job towards the end. I had a bit of spare time and Cael’s blessing.”
Marta rolled her eyes, but she knew he could feel her happiness and excitement.
“Well come on then,” she said. “Give me the tour.”
It was a modest ship, but no more modest than Marta’s basement home. In fact, it was a little more spacious than that. She could see the wear and tear of previous owners, nothing quite as sleek and shiny as she was used to from Station life. But that was okay. The Station was only ever a temporary place. This ship - it was theirs.
Tarkken sat down in the pilot’s seat and pulled her down into his lap.
“It will be on the transport shuttle til the first waystation,” he said. “Few more repairs and checks to do yet. But once we arrive, we can go anywhere you like.”
He pressed a button on the console, a star map appearing on one of the screens.
“Anywhere?” Marta said.
“Anywhere.”
“How about here?” she asked, pointing out a spot at random.
“There?” Tarkken said. “You’ve got the whole Universe at your fingertips and you want to go there? The dead end of nowhere? I am revoking your right to choose a destination immediately.”
Marta laughed, cutting off his protests with a kiss. Immediately, her body warmed, melting into his as though designed to fit there. She guessed in a way it was.
Taking the test had been the longest five minutes of her life - most of it spent frantically kissing him in case the test came back negative and she wouldn’t be able to kiss him again. Much of the five minutes after being confirmed as Tarkken’s Match had also been spent frantically kissing him, although the tone of the kiss had been rather different.
Now, she kissed him slowly, thoroughly, enjoying every sensation that his lips coaxed out of her. And when his hand traced up her leg, pushing up the skirt of her dress, she knew she couldn’t wait until they got back to their apartment on the Station.
“Please tell me that the bed is fully functional,” she said.
Tarkken just grinned, standing up with her, and carrying her through to their new bedroom.
He laid her down on the bed, hands and lips working through the combinations of touches that he knew worked for her. She loved that about him - that he was so attentive to her needs, so eager to please her. Sure, he got something of a payoff, but his enthusiasm and attention to detail went far beyond any second hand pleasure he gained.
Soon they were both naked, sweating and moaning as they indulged in each other. The urgent need they felt to claim each other’s bodies hadn’t diminished. Marta always believed that it would get boring, being with the same person for a long period of time, but there was a special sort of intimacy that came from truly knowing someone. An intimacy that went beyond even Tarkken’s ability to get inside her head.
After, sated and spent, they lay in each other’s arms, not quite ready to let sleep claim them, but not quite up to talking, either. That was another thing Marta loved about Tarkken. He never minded not talking.
She let her eyes wander round the room that was fully, officially, theirs, getting used to the shape of it. It was minimal, almost to the point of spartan, plain walls, plain fixtures. Except in one corner, where a couple of cupboard doors appeared to have been pried off, the space behind them filled with a colourful blanket that Marta recognised. She sat up, startling Tarkken from his dozing state.
“Did you make a little home for Mouse?” she said.
“Before you get excited,” Tarkken said, “there are a lot of rules about the transportation of live animals. I had to pull some strings to get her a passport, and she’ll have to be strictly a spaceship cat...”
“But I can bring her? I don’t have to leave her behind?”
“Yes, you can bring her.”
Marta squealed with delight, throwing her arms around him.
“I don’t know,” Tarkken grumbled. “I buy you a spaceship and it’s the fact that you can bring that... creature on board that makes you happiest.”
Marta grinned, pressing her lips to his.
“I love you,” she said.
“I know you do,” he said, eyes closing as he let that love wash over him. And though Marta didn’t have his ability to sense emotions, she didn’t need it. She knew he loved her, too.
“And I love the ship,” she said, snuggling back down beside him.
“Good.”
“Can I name it?”
He opened one eye, pinning her with his gaze. “No.”
“No?”
“You have a cat named ’Mouse’, I’m not going to let you name anything again.”
Marta laughed, relaxing into the comfortable rhythm of their bickering. She’d wear him down eventually and he’d relent. She had two weeks of travel time before they hit the waystation and their maiden voyage.
It would be enough.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
THE IDEA FOR THIS series came to me in late 2019. I’d been trying to write a few different things for a while, but wasn’t getting very far with them. After failing to get going on a book for what felt like the millionth time, I decided I just wanted to write something really fun. I’d had this idea in the back of my mind about a DNA test that would find you your perfect partner, and what it would be like to meet someone who was meant for you, to have to figure each other out with the knowledge that it’s ‘destiny’ in the back of your mind. And so, with no expectations, I sat down to write it.
Randar was the result. Through writing it, I fell a little bit in love with the side characters and decided they all needed a happy ending, and so the Intergalactic Soulmates series was born.
It has been an absolute blast writing them - despite much of the writing and publishing taking place against a backdrop of a global pandemic! - and I wanted to express my gratitude to a few of the people who made it possible.
To Carole and Maisie for enduring me constantly updating them about sales and reviews - thank you for being a tolerant outlet for my excitement. Also thank you for the lockdown memes, panic snacks and sharing in many emotional moments during the corona virus crisis. Like crying when Joe Wicks became the nation’s P.E. Teacher, or when the Queen said ‘We will meet again’. (Brits will know!) An existential dread shared is an existential dread halved.
To Charis for speed read-throughs and typo checking and for being my cheerleader always.
To Sophie for nagging me to hurry up and get book four done so we could play Animal Crossing together again. No thanks to Animal Crossing for destroying my productivity for a good week! (This close to getting my last house upgrade though...)
To the girls in the Sci-Fi Romance Authors chat who have taught me so much about the business of being an author, while
also being great people generally.
To my husband, who was the living embodiment of the raised eyebrow emoji when I said I was publishing an alien romance book, but has supported me working crazy hours, encouraged me, and generally been a rock as I’ve launched this new endeavour.
And to you, reader, for taking a chance on a new author and reading my books. I hope you’ve enjoyed them.
Annabelle x
COMING NEXT
WHEN DHAKHAR AND his crew board a suspicious vessel, he thinks they're about to find a shipment of illegal weapons. But the cargo is actually something far worse - a collection of cryogenically frozen women, abducted from an unknown planet. And Dhakhar has just accidentally woken one of them up.
Waking up in a box full of freezing water has not been Charlie's favourite experience. Discovering she's lightyears from home only makes matters worse. But for some reason, the aliens who've rescued her think she's a princess, and Charlie is just going to roll with it. If they realise she's utterly unimportant, they might just try to force her back inside her icy coffin so they can ship her home without any hassle. Although, she might come to regret opting to take the long way home with surly Captain Dhakhar...
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AVAILABLE NOW
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About the Author
ANNABELLE REX HAS LOVED ALL THINGS space since she first watched Star Wars as a little girl. She writes steamy sci-fi romances featuring lovable alien heroes and the women they want to claim for their own.
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